"Indian doctors warn against cow dung as COVID cure"
"there is no scientific evidence for its effectiveness and that it risks spreading other diseases."
"some believers have been going to cow shelters once a week to cover their bodies in cow dung and urine in the hope it will boost their immunity"
"even doctors come here. Their belief is that this therapy improves their immunity and they can go and tend to patients with no fear,"
https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indian-doctors-warn-against-cow-dung-covid-cure-2021-05-11/
https://www.reuters.com/world/india/indian-doctors-warn-against-cow-dung-covid-cure-2021-05-11/
"In Hinduism, the cow is a sacred symbol of life and the earth, and for centuries Hindus have used cow dung to clean their homes and for prayer rituals, believing it has therapeutic and antiseptic properties."
India is thought to use as much as 400 million tons of cow dung for cooking fuel alone each year, with approximately 30 percent of rural fuel production dependent on animal waste.
But rapid urbanization in India means that more and more people are moving from rural areas to cities that don't rely on cow dung for fuel. That's leading to new demand for cow dung in urban areas—and thanks to sites like Amazon and eBay, cow patties are just a click away. The cakes are selling out around Hindu festivals, when people burn the cakes for ritual fires
"
Apart from poverty and lack of lavatories, one of the reasons often cited to explain open defecation in India is the ingrained cultural norm making the practice socially accepted in some parts of the society.
"Just building toilets is not going to solve the problem, because open defecation is a practice acquired from the time you learn how to walk
"
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-27775327
"
India will be free of open defecation only when "every Indian household, every village, every part of Indian society will accept the need to use toilets and commit to do so", she says.
"In India, where Hindus have long worshipped cows as sacred, cow dung cakes have been used for centuries for fires, whether for heating, cooking or Hindu rituals. Across rural India, piles of drying cow dung are ubiquitous."
"demand for the cow dung cakes spiked during the recent Diwali festival season, a time when Hindus conduct prayer ceremonies"
"
there is a lot of demand for cow dung cakes," said Agarwal, referring to rituals performed
"
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-cow-dung-patties-are-selling-like-hot-cakes-online-in-india/
"in India, cow dung has an important role to play, too: It's placed on the walls of some homes."
"These cow dung cakes could be used for performing havan, puja"
"cow poop would be collected (from their grandmother's own cows, in this particular case) and balled up with clay. They required around three days to dry out, and there was a novel way of achieving this: They were stuck to the walls of homes, by hand."
https://www.grunge.com/987086/the-truth-behind-why-some-people-in-india-put-cow-dung-on-their-walls/
"
An upala has a range of uses, Singh goes on: "in the Hindu religion it is used in fires for religious rituals such as the purification of a house or a house-warming ceremony. Since cows are considered to be holy by Hindus, their dung is also sacred."
"
https://www.grunge.com/987086/the-truth-behind-why-some-people-in-india-put-cow-dung-on-their-walls/
Joyful crowds have pelted each other with fistfuls of cow manure as part of one village's local ritual to mark the end of Diwali, India's most important Hindu festival.
Similar to Spain's La Tomatina festival — the eccentric tomato-hurling celebration — residents of Gumatapura instead fling snowball-sized wads of bovine poo.
The Gorehabba festival on Saturday began with the afternoon collection of "ammunition" from cow-owning homes in the village
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-08/cattle-royale-dung-fight-marks-end-of-diwali/100601634
"The manure was brought to the local temple on tractor trolleys, before a priest performed a blessing ritual.
After that, the dung was dumped in an open area — with men and boys wading in to prepare their weapons for the battle ahead."
"
"If they have a disease, it will get cured," said Mahesh, a farmer at Saturday's festival.
Some Hindus believe cows and everything they produce is sacred and purifying.
"
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-08/cattle-royale-dung-fight-marks-end-of-diwali/100601634
"His government is also looking to encourage the production of toothpaste, shampoos and mosquito repellents from bovine waste."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-08/cattle-royale-dung-fight-marks-end-of-diwali/100601634
"clear liquid in the bottles is purified cow's urine — quite possibly the fastest growing alternative medicine in India these days.
"Cow's urine is a diuretic. It helps in detoxification of the body, and many other beneficial effects are described in the Sanskrit scriptures, such as helping to expel excess bile," says Anil Kumar, a vaidya — practitioner of Ayurvedic medicine — employed by the company Divya Pharmacy."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/10/08/hindus-india-cows/73567552/
Since successive Indian governments stepped up their promotion of alternative medicine a decade or so ago, unproven health products and nutritional supplements made from cow milk, cow urine and cow dung have become huge business.
Already, Patanjali Yogpeeth, which owns Divya Pharmacy, collects hundreds of thousands of gallons of cow's urine per day to be processed and packaged as facial cream, shampoo, soap, nasal drops, hair tonic and various medicines
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/10/08/hindus-india-cows/73567552/
"If you want to save yourself from cancer, there is a need to protect cows on a priority because cow urine is effective in curing cancer completely. It can cure [100] percent. I can vouch for it. Nobody wants to hear this," Shankarbhai N. Vegad, a member of parliament for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), announced to the upper house in March.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/10/08/hindus-india-cows/73567552/
Meanwhile, high-profile practitioners have claimed that Ayurveda can treat dengue, epilepsy, AIDS and other serious conditions.
Advocates of Ayurveda do more than just talk. Last year, for instance, a bill was introduced that would have allowed AYUSH practitioners to perform abortions, if it had passed.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/10/08/hindus-india-cows/73567552/
Except all the soaps include cow dung and cow urine as ingredients.
Why make soap from this stuff?
Cows are sacred in Hinduism. Ayurveda, the ancient Indian science of life, says that cow products like dung, milk and urine have healing properties. Many rural Indian homes use cow dung to pave floors. And many Hindus believe drinking cow urine is good for health.
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/10/03/653739760/cow-dung-soap-is-cleaning-up-in-india
"Soni, 35, started making cow dung soaps in 2008, but he's certainly not the first to use these items in beauty products. Initially, his customers were devotees at a Hindu temple in Mumbai"
"he launched his own cow-based beauty products line. Cowpathy Care, as it's called, offers 80 products, including cow dung soaps, cow milk creams and an under-eye gel made from cow urine."
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/10/03/653739760/cow-dung-soap-is-cleaning-up-in-india
For his products, Soni uses dung, urine and milk derived from indigenous cow breeds, which have a little hump on their back. The hump, according to Hindu scriptures, has a "surya ketu nadi," a vein that absorbs useful solar radiation, which in turn enriches the cow's products, he says.
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/10/03/653739760/cow-dung-soap-is-cleaning-up-in-india
He (and others) believe that the medicinal properties of herbs eaten by a cow remain in the dung. In fact, panchgavya, a concoction of cow's milk, clarified butter, yogurt, urine and dung, is believed to cure a slew of diseases including cancer and diabetes. Soni uses this mixture in his products, too.
There is no scientific evidence to support any of these claims.
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/10/03/653739760/cow-dung-soap-is-cleaning-up-in-india
Panchagavya or panchakavyam is a mixture used in traditional Hindu rituals that is prepared by mixing five ingredients. The three direct constituents are cow dung, urine, and milk; the two derived products are curd and ghee. These are mixed and then allowed to ferment. The Sanskrit word panchagavya means "five cow-derivatives". When used in Ayurvedic medicine, it is also called cowpathy.[1]
claim that cow urine therapy is capable of curing several diseases, including certain types of cancer, although these claims have no scientific backing. In fact, studies concerning ingesting individual components of panchagavya, such as cow urine, have shown no positive benefit, and significant side effects, including convulsion, depressed respiration, and death. Cow's urine can also be a source of harmful bacteria and infectious diseases, including leptospirosis.
Scientific Journal Articles used to promote the use of cow dung and try to make it acceptable to the rest of the world outside India
Actual University Faculty were involved in the writing of this
Why governments should not fund research nor Universities
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/349287086_All_About_Panchagavya_for_Human_usage_-A_Review
Another peer reviewed scientific journal article calling eating cow dung a precious gift to mankind
The peer review process does not work to advance science and is not a legitimate way to know if a scientific claim is true
"cow dung-based toothpaste protects against oral pathogens and improves oral health"
